Fear of Breakdown

Politics and Psychoanalysis

Noëlle McAfee ((Home address, best mailing address))

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English

Columbia University Press
04 June 2019

Psychoanalytical theory (Freudian psychology); Political science & theory

Series: New Directions in Critical Theory

What is behind the upsurge of virulent nationalism and intransigent politics across the globe today? In Fear of Breakdown, Noëlle McAfee uses psychoanalytic theory to explore the subterranean anxieties behind current crises and the ways in which democratic practices can help work through seemingly intractable political conflicts. Working at the intersection of psyche and society, McAfee draws on psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott's concept of the fear of breakdown to show how hypernationalism stems from unconscious anxieties over the origins of personal and social identities, giving rise to temptations to reify exclusionary phantasies of national origins.

Fear of Breakdown contends that politics needs something that only psychoanalysis has been able to offer: an understanding of how to work through anxieties, ambiguity, fragility, and loss in order to create a more democratic politics. Coupling robust psychoanalytic theory with concrete democratic practice, Fear of Breakdown shows how a politics of working through can help counter a politics of splitting, paranoia, and demonization. McAfee argues for a new approach to deliberative democratic theory, not the usual philosopher-sanctioned process of reason-giving but an affective process of making difficult choices, encountering others, and mourning what cannot be had.

By: Noëlle McAfee ((Home address best mailing address))
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 65
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780231192699
ISBN 10: 023119269X
Series: New Directions in Critical Theory
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 04 June 2019
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments By Way of a Preface Introduction 1. Defining Politics 2. Psychoanalysis and Political Theory 3. Politics and the Fear of Breakdown 4. Practicing Democracy 5. Democratic Imaginaries 6. Becoming Citizens 7. Definitions of the Situation 8. Deliberating Otherwise 9. Political Works of Mourning 10. Public Will and Action 11. Radical Imaginaries 12. Nationalism and the Fear of Breakdown Conclusion: Working Through the Breakdown Notes References Index

Noëlle McAfee is a professor of philosophy and the director of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program at Emory University. Her books include Habermas, Kristeva, and Citizenship (2000), Julia Kristeva (2003), and Democracy and the Political Unconscious (Columbia, 2008).

Reviews for Fear of Breakdown: Politics and Psychoanalysis

In exploring the fear of breakdown that underlies human existence, McAfee creates a genuine intellectual breakthrough--her book is a stunningly original exploration of the political significance of mourning. This is one of the most thrilling books I have read in years.--Mari Ruti, Distinguished Professor, University of Toronto